The Silver Spike
The Silver Spike by Glen Cook is a standalone novel of the Black Company series. It is the only work that does not directly involve the Black Company per se. Instead, it wraps up the stories of those characters who remained in the north after the Battle of the Barrowland at the end of The White Rose, namely, those who chose not to journey to Khatovar with Croaker. These include Case (the narrator); Raven; Darling; Bomanz; Silent; the Limper; and four newcomers called the spike thieves. The Silver Spike takes place within the same world and timeline as all other Black Company novels. However, it is not numbered as a "chronicle of the Black Company" since its narrator, Case, is a private diarist and not an official Annalist of the Company. Many events of The Silver Spike take place concurrently with Shadow Games, although Shadow Games is meant to be read first (see section below). At least two events transpire specifically in both novels, albeit from different perspectives. These are: the departure of The Dark Wings from Opal; and, the flight of the fire-eater over the Temple of Travellers' Repose. Chronology and reading order The novel was published in September 1989, chronologically between the two Books of the South: Shadow Games (Jun. 1989) and Dreams of Steel (Apr. 1990), and it is likewise meant to be read between them. While not being a "Book of the South" itself, in later omnibuses, this novel is grouped among them for convenience. This intended reading order was confused by later publications, including subsequent English-language omnibuses and many translations: * Many listed The Silver Spike before Shadow Games. This is consistent with some early fan websites and forums from the 1990s and 2000s, which started the trend of calling The Silver Spike "book 3.5", implying it should be read after The White Rose and before Shadow Games. * Some other publications even list The Silver Spike after Dreams of Steel. Prominent among these are the French translations published by L'Atalante and J'ai Lu. To view the covers of these, see the cover artist pages: Didier Graffet, Johan Camou, and Slava Gerj. From the back cover Summary List of editions The Silver Spike was published as a standalone novel (with the exception of the Russian 2-novel combos) in the following editions, translations, and formats. They are listed in order of publication, earliest first; some reappearances of the same translation may be grouped together. See also Books of the South for the list of omnibuses in which The Silver Spike appeared. Polish Russian (1997 AST Dragon Age Chronicles) This edition was part of the publisher's Dragon Age Chronicles (Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki) series. Russian (2000 AST Golden Fantasy) novel pair This single hardcover containing both The Silver Spike and Dreams of Steel was part of the publisher's Golden Fantasy series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi). French (2002 L'Atalante) The French translation, first published by L'Atalante, features original artwork by Didier Graffet throughout the book. Lithuanian Spanish The novel was translated into Spanish by the famous Domingo Santos. The cover features artwork that was originally made for a science fiction novel, containing space-themed elements wholly unrelated to the Black Company series. Bulgarian French (2007 J'ai lu) The same French translation previously published by L'Atalante (scroll farther up) was republished by J'ai lu in smaller paperback format poche with cover art by Johan Camou (left); this cover art was later replaced by the more abstract art of Slava Gerj (right) when the publisher did a cover refresh. Russian (2008 AST Dragon Age 2) novel pair This single hardcover containing 2 novels was part of the publisher's Dragon Age 2 series (Век дракона 2 / Vek Drakona 2). Persian Silver Spike Silver Spike